The city central park as a shared space : how Örebro stadspark may meet the needs and wishes of a broader public

Sedan industrialiseringen på 1800-talet och urbaniseringen som följde har offentliga parker varit en viktig del av svenska städer. Stadsparker är centrala parker dit invånarna från alla stadsdelar välkomnas. Stadsparken är en framträdande park i Örebro och benämns enligt stadsträdgårdsmästare Magnus Carlberg som stadens kronjuvel. Ambitionen med den här uppsatsen har varit att genom intervju med stadsträdgårdsmästaren samt observationsstudier av Örebro stadspark ta reda på vilka användargrupper som får ta plats i Stadsparken och i vilket avseende parkens funktioner kan förbättras för att tillmötesgå fler gruppers sociala behov. Resultatet från studierna visar att ungdomar upplever att de saknar områden i Stadsparken anpassade efter deras behov. Parken har också potential att utvecklas för att fungera som en attraktiv plats för socialt umgänge under fler timmar på dygnet, året om. För att tillgodose flera användargruppers sociala behov i stadens gemensamma gröna rum skulle Örebro kommun kunna utveckla multifunktionella och flexibla ytor som är estetiskt tilltalande, upplevs trygga och är bekväma att vistas på under längre stunder.Since the industrialization during the 19th century and the urbanization that followed, public parks have been an important part of Swedish cities. City central parks, in Swedish ”stadsparker”, welcome citizens from all districts of the city to visit. Stadsparken is a prominent park in Örebro and is according to the municipal gardener Magnus Carlberg often referred to as the city’s crown jewel. By conducting an interview with the municipal gardener as well as performing observational studies of Örebro city park, the ambition with this thesis has been to investigate which user groups that are visible in Stadsparken and how the park’s functions could develop in order to meet more groups’ social needs. The result from the studies shows adolescents experience Stadsparken to lack areas which are adapted to their needs. The park also has potential to develop in order to function as an attractive place for social interaction during a larger part of the day, throughout the year. In order to meet the social needs of more user groups in the city’s shared green space, Örebro Municipality could develop multifunctional and flexible spaces which are aesthetically attractive, comfortable to stay in for longer periods of time and experienced as safe

Ryanodine receptors: physiological function and deregulation in Alzheimer disease

BackgroundHealth-care professionals have a responsibility to be attentive to patients’ adherence behavior but it could be difficult to identify poor adherence in the context of clinical practice. Assessment of personality could be used to identify individuals who are in need for support with their adherence behavior. To our knowledge, existing adherence questionnaires are not based on individuals reflecting asthmatics in the general population and there is limited research describing adherence with asthma medication in relation to personal goals with the treatment. The aim was to develop and validate an adherence questionnaire in adult individuals with asthma from the general population and to assess adherence in relation to personality traits and goals with the asthma medication using the developed questionnaire.MethodsThe study was conducted in three phases: 1. A preliminary postal 46-item questionnaire was refined after psychometric testing (n = 157). 2. The questionnaire was validated (n = 104). 3. The developed adherence questionnaire was analyzed in relation to personality traits and achieved goals with the asthma medication. Adult respondents with physician diagnosed asthma using asthma medications were selected from the population-based West Sweden Asthma Study. The respondents completed the Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness to Experience Five-Factor Inventory and the Medication Adherence Report Scale and stated their goals with the asthma medication. Data were analyzed using t-tests, correlations, multiple regression and principal component analysis.ResultsA final questionnaire was developed consisting of ten items organized in three subscales - “medication routines”, “self-adjusting the medication” and “concerns about side-effects”. Two of the subscales - “medication routines” and “self-adjusting the medication” – were associated with the Medication Adherence Report Scale. The subscale “medication routines” was associated with the personality traits – Conscientiousness and Neuroticism and unachieved goals with the asthma medication.ConclusionsThe developed questionnaire appears to be useful for measuring adherence to asthma medication in adult individuals with asthma. The study suggests that both individual differences and personal treatment goals need to be addressed in efforts to promote adherence to asthma medication treatment

Molecular systematics: data mining of canine endogenous retroviruses, CFERV

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) were discovered in the 1960s and in their complete form they consist of two LTRs (long terminal repeat sequences) that are each located on either side of the chain/element. ERVs contain the following genes: gag, pro, pol and env .Ccomplete ERVs are 8-10 kb long and have their best fitness in the enzyme that use reverse transciptase polymerase from single stranded RNA as template to produce DNA and in the possibility the host is not damaged lethally and no selection against the ERV element come into force. When a retrovirus infects a germ cell, the retrovirus inserts its genome into the infected cell and become a part of the entire genome. These ERVs are inherited according to Mendelian expectations in the same way as all other genes in the genome. The phenomenon of ERV inheritance is called vertical contagion. The first exogenous retroviruses that infected a germ cell and became endogenous could have appeared at any time over an extended evolutionary time-scale between 2 to 70 million years ago. Even a horisontal contagion is possible, from one species to another through exogenous retrovirus infection. A possible way of horisontal contagion is when animals of different species are forced to live in a limited area. On average it has been estimated that it takes one million year until retroviral integration is fixed within a population. All veterbrates have endogenous retroviruses in their genomes, the ERV elements are mostly old, truncated and non-functional. Still some of them have open reading frames in RV gene are low in LTR divergence and in frequency of nonsense mutation causing premature stop of translation and frame shift mutations. The canine genome has been effective in protection from extensive retroviruses integration, the amount in dog is expected to be a fifth of the real ERV amount in species like human and chimpanzees.Syftet med min studie var att på molekylär nivå söka, klassificera och analysera hundens endogena retrovirus, CFERV med programmet RetroTector©. Från dessa data har komplexiteten av hundens ERV definierats inklusive dess proteiner. Kedjor och dess proteinsekvenser har jämförts med andra individer från samma art eller mellan individer från olika arter. Av hundens retrovirus insamlades alla kedjor över 300 poäng, av det bioinformatiska datorprogrammet, RetroTector©. Kopior och L1-liknande element (det är flera element som liknar retrovirus men inte uppfyller alla krav) sorterades bort. Kopior återfanns i två nivåer (först på kedjenivå, sedan på polputein-nivå) på grund av att överlappade kedjor används i programmet för att inte riskera att missa något element. Kopior plockades bort med hjälp av (i RetroTector©) kända positioner i början och slutet av kedjor och pol-puteiner. L1-liknande element plockades bort med hjälp av Rep Base Finds funktionen i RetroTector©. Efter rensning återstod endast 254 unika sekvenser, med gränsen satt till minst 300 poäng och med den nödvändiga pol-genen av hundens retrovirus, CFERV, vilka analyserades vidare. Analysen resulterade i 237 gamma-retrovirus, 14 beta-retrovirus, 2 deltalika retrovirus och en spuma-retrovirus. Distributionen av ingående gener i retroviruselementen är normalfördelade med viss skevhet. De flesta (43 %) retroviruselement har tre gener, (en pol gen och två andra). En stor skillnad mellan hundens beta- och gammakedjor är att bland betakedjorna finns inte en enda kedja med endast en pol-gen till skillnad från Gamma-kedjorna, där uppgår antalet kedjor med en enda pol-gen till 21 stycken (11 %). Mängden av högpoängs CFERV som återfanns i denna studie var 254 stycken vilket utgör 0,075 % av hundens genom på ca 2,3 miljarder baspar. Många av hundens 254 retrovirus liknar varandra och överensstämmer väl med retrovirus i andra djurarter HERVFH21 hos människa och 18 stycken HERVF-lika sekvenser i hund visar genom alignment i Clustal W på ett gemensamt ursprung. HERVF i människa och i gamla världens primater är en tidig ERV, kanske 60 miljoner år men HERVF upptäckes sent. Endogena retrovirus kan smitta, liksom övrigt virus, horisontellt mellan arter som lever nära varandra. Det kan ske genom articifiella barriärer då olika arter tvingas leva på en mycket begränsad yta, som mellan olika arter i en djurpark eller som mellan människa och hennes husdjur. Hunden lever kanske lika nära människan som människor lever nära varandra, därför tros hund och människa ha gemensamma ERV som HERVF vilket bekräftas av denna studie. Horisontell smitta kan även förekomma genom predation, från byte till rovdjur liksom till människa som äter kött av andra ryggradsdjur. Endogena retrovirus skiljer sig från exogena retrovirus genom att de är införlivade i genomet och ärvs ner på mendelsk väg, liksom de övriga generna. Det är den andra vägen för ”smitta” ERV förs vidare vertikalt genom arvet, från förälder till avkomma. Det är endast när ett retrovirus infekterar en könscell och blir en del av genomet som retroviruset blir endogent. ERV kan ses som ett minne av en tidigare infektion. Om retroviruset inte stör värden alltför mycket, det vill säga om värden kan överleva och fortplanta sig med viruset intakt och heller ingen selektion sker emot viruset, kan det efter cirka minst en million år bli fullständigt befäst i en art. Endogent retrovirus är en nukleotid-kedja som är 9-12 kb lång. För att uppfylla kriteriet retrovirus ska kedjan innehålla två LTR:er (en i varje ände) och helst de fyra generna gag, pro, pol och env. Dessa gener kodar för retrovirusets (protein). Ett retrovirus ser ut som följer: 5’ änden börjar med en 5’LTR, en cap som motsvarar den första nukleotiden i det mRNA som bildas, vidare en PBS vilken startar syntes genom att binda till tRNA. tRNA:ts aminosyra ger namn åt aktuell ERV, HERVF har tRNA med phenylanalin. Efter PBS kommer de fyra speciella generna: gag, pro, pol och env, som är avgörande för retrovirusets funktion. Gag kodar för strukturproteinen, matrix, capsid och nucleocapsid. Pro kodar för proteas. Pol kodar för ett integras och för omvänt transkriptas som möjliggör omvänd transkription (RNA till DNA), vilket är en absolut förutsättning för framgång för virus. Env kodar för struktur proteiner för retrovirusets yta/vägg och dess transportproteiner genom väggen. I 3’ änden efter env-genen avslutas kedjan med en LTR. Endast en dryg femtedel (22 %) av alla hundens endogena retrovirus är kompletta med alla de fyra generna. I denna studie har gränsen satts för minst en pol gen för att kvalificera som retrovirus och för möjlighet att jämföra pol sekvenser. Pol-genen har en särställning genom sin höga konservering över långa evolutionära tider och sin stabila proteinsekvens (mer stabil än motsvarande nukleotidkedja). Därför är det Pol-sekvenserna som används i alla fylogenetiska jämförelser inom hund och mellan hund och andra arter. De, från allra första början, identiska LTR:en som ”inhägnar” retroviruset kan användas som ett mått på virusets ålder. Det sker mutationer, insertioner och deletioner över tiden i all avsmassa, med hjälp av känd mutationshastighet och mätning av skillnaden (divergence) mellan de båda LTR:en kan ett mått på retroviruselementets ålder erhållas. Denna analys har inte utförts och beräknats i denna studie. Hundens genom CanFam2.0 blev fullständigt kartlagt på Broad Institute MIT & Harvard och publicerades i december 2005 (Lindblad-Toh et al., 2005). Hundsekvensen anges som en högkvalitativ sekvens och den annoteras och förbättras fortlöpande. Den senaste tillgängliga versionen är, CanFam2crt10v070313 vilken har används i denna studie. Hundens retrovirus är inte beskrivet på ett utförligt sätt i litteraturen. Hunden och kycklingen har skyddat sig väl emot retrovirus jämfört med människa och schimpans

The Significance of Asthma Follow-Up Consultations for Adherence to Asthma Medication, Asthma Medication Beliefs, and Asthma Control

Objective. The aim was to investigate adherence to asthma medication treatment, medication beliefs, and asthma control in relation to asthma follow-up consultations in asthmatics in the general population. A further aim was to describe associations between adherence, medication beliefs, and asthma control. Method. In the population-based West Sweden Asthma Study, data allowing calculation of adherence for 4.5 years based on pharmacy records were obtained from 165 adult asthmatics. Additional data were collected through questionnaires and structured interviews. Results. The mean adherence value for filled prescriptions for regular asthma medication was 68% (median 55.3%) but varied over the year under study. Adherence to combination inhalers with corticosteroids and long-acting beta 2 agonists was higher than adherence to single inhalers with corticosteroids only. More than one-third of participants reported not having seen an asthma nurse or physician for several years. Regular asthma followup consultations were associated with both higher adherence and the belief that asthma medication was necessary but were not associated with asthma control. Conclusions. Adherence to asthma medication treatment was low and varied over the year under study. The current study suggests that quality improvements in asthma care are needed if adherence to asthma medication is to be improved

Health-related quality of life, anxiety, depression, beliefs of medication, and self-efficacy in individuals with severe asthma : a population-based study

Objective: Individuals with severe asthma often report poor Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and more research is essential to increase understanding of how they may be helped to improve HRQoL. The main aim of the current paper is to evaluate HRQoL, and possible factors influencing HRQoL, in individuals with severe asthma. The aim is also to explore associations among anxiety, depression, beliefs of medication, self-efficacy, and HRQoL among individuals with severe and other asthma as well as those with no asthma. Methods: Participants with severe asthma (n = 59), other asthma (n = 526), and no asthma (n = 902) were recruited from West Sweden Asthma Study, a population-based study, which includes both questionnaire surveys and clinical examinations. Results: Individuals with severe asthma had worse physical HRQoL (measured with SF-8) than those with other and no asthma (median 48.4, 51.9, and 54.3, respectively). They also had worse mental HRQoL (median 46.7) and reported higher anxiety and depression scores (measured using HADS, median 5.0 and 3.5, respectively) compared to no asthma (median 4.0 and 2.0, respectively). HRQoL was particularly affected among women with severe asthma. Individuals with severe asthma believed that their asthma medication was more necessary than those with other asthma, but they reported more concern for the medication. Asthma control and packyears predicted physical HRQoL and anxiety predicted mental HRQoL among individuals with severe asthma. Conclusions: Efforts to improve asthma control and to reduce anxiety may improve HRQoL in individuals with severe asthma. Especially, women with severe asthma seem to need support to improve their HRQoL. Reducing concerns with asthma medication is most likely essential as high concerns may lead to poor adherence, which in turn may negatively affect asthma control and HRQoL.Peer reviewe

Network analysis of quantitative proteomics on asthmatic bronchi: effects of inhaled glucocorticoid treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proteomic studies of respiratory disorders have the potential to identify protein biomarkers for diagnosis and disease monitoring. Utilisation of sensitive quantitative proteomic methods creates opportunities to determine individual patient proteomes. The aim of the current study was to determine if quantitative proteomics of bronchial biopsies from asthmatics can distinguish relevant biological functions and whether inhaled glucocorticoid treatment affects these functions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Endobronchial biopsies were taken from untreated asthmatic patients (<it>n </it>= 12) and healthy controls (<it>n </it>= 3). Asthmatic patients were randomised to double blind treatment with either placebo or budesonide (800 μg daily for 3 months) and new biopsies were obtained. Proteins extracted from the biopsies were digested and analysed using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation combined with a nanoLC-LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Spectra obtained were used to identify and quantify proteins. Pathways analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to identify significant biological pathways in asthma and determine how the expression of these pathways was changed by treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>More than 1800 proteins were identified and quantified in the bronchial biopsies of subjects. The pathway analysis revealed acute phase response signalling, cell-to-cell signalling and tissue development associations with proteins expressed in asthmatics compared to controls. The functions and pathways associated with placebo and budesonide treatment showed distinct differences, including the decreased association with acute phase proteins as a result of budesonide treatment compared to placebo.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Proteomic analysis of bronchial biopsy material can be used to identify and quantify proteins using highly sensitive technologies, without the need for pooling of samples from several patients. Distinct pathophysiological features of asthma can be identified using this approach and the expression of these features is changed by inhaled glucocorticoid treatment. Quantitative proteomics may be applied to identify mechanisms of disease that may assist in the accurate and timely diagnosis of asthma.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov registration <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01378039">NCT01378039</a></p

Differences in diagnostic patterns of obstructive airway disease between areas and sex in Sweden and Finland-the Nordic EpiLung study

Objective:To investigate the current prevalence of physician-diagnosed obstructive airway diseases by respiratory symptoms and by sex in Sweden and Finland. Method:In 2016, a postal questionnaire was answered by 34,072 randomly selected adults in four study areas: Vastra Gotaland and Norrbotten in Sweden, and Seinajoki-Vaasa and Helsinki in Finland. Results:The prevalence of asthma symptoms was higher in Norrbotten (13.2%), Seinajoki-Vaasa (14.8%) and Helsinki (14.4%) than in Vastra Gotaland (10.7%), and physician-diagnosed asthma was highest in Norrbotten (13.0%) and least in Vastra Gotaland (10.1%). Chronic productive cough was most common in the Finnish areas (7.7-8.2% versus 6.3-6.7%) while the prevalence of physician-diagnosed chronic bronchitis (CB) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) varied between 1.7 and 2.7% in the four areas. Among individuals with respiratory symptoms, the prevalence of asthma was most common in Norrbotten, while a diagnosis of COPD or CB was most common in Vastra Gotaland and Seinajoki-Vaasa. More women than men with respiratory symptoms reported a diagnosis of asthma in Sweden and Seinajoki-Vaasa but there were no sex differences in Helsinki. In Sweden, more women than men with symptoms of cough or phlegm reported a diagnosis of CB or COPD, while in Finland the opposite was found. Conclusion:The prevalence of respiratory symptoms and corresponding diagnoses varied between and within the countries. The proportion reporting a diagnosis of obstructive airway disease among individuals with respiratory symptoms varied, indicating differences in diagnostic patterns both between areas and by sex.Peer reviewe

About the necessity of the linguacultural aspect in teaching English

В статье на примере отдельных английских и русских фразеологизмов иллюстрируется репродукция в языке, в частности, в его фразеологическом фонде, культурологических особенностей, обусловленных экстралингвистическими факторами. Подчеркивается необходимость изучения определенного языка с обязательным учетом лингвокультурологического аспекта.The article illustrates the reproduction of cultural features in a language, in particular, in its phraseological fund, due to extralinguistic factors, on the example of the English and Russian phraseological units. The necessity of studying a certain language with the obligatory consideration of the linguoculturological aspect is emphasized